A new memorial by Zaha Hadid in Cambodia departs from the expected

Designs for a new Cambodian institution for genocide studies, the Sleuk Rith Institute, have been released by its architect, Zaha Hadid.

According to Dezeen, the project sees a departure from Hadid’s well-known use of concrete, fiberglass, and resin. Instead, the primary material will be timber, curved and symmetrical like the Angkor Wat and other Cambodian landmarks.

The finished complex will hold the archives of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, a nonprofit that records the turbulence and violence that occurred during the Khmer Rouge period in the 1970s.

Dezeen reports that Cambodian human rights activist Youk Chhang conceived the memorial and institution, and that he chose Hadid to design the new building with hopes that she will provide a departure from the stereotypical approach to memorial architecture.

“We were keen to create a forward-looking institution that deviates from the distress-invoking, quasi-industrial, harshness of most existing genocide memorial models,” he told Dezeen.

Construction is expected to start early next year.

Dezeen has the full story.

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